The Indonesian government and Aceh separatist rebels said they are willing to hold talks in Tokyo on Saturday to avert a return to war in the province.
Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba, a senior official of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), said there had been "a breakthrough" in talks between GAM's exiled leadership in Stockholm and foreign mediators.
The offer of new talks followed an emergency late-night meeting between the US, Japanese and European Union ambassadors and top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the minister's secretary Harsanto told AFP.
He said the government wanted a meeting held in Tokyo by Saturday at the latest. "We asked for the 17th because the date cannot be backed up any more," Harsanto said.
GAM's military spokesman Sofyan Dawood said in a statement the meeting is "not the result of a kind Indonesian heart" but of "international community pressure." Dawood said the Tokyo meeting would last until Sunday.
The government has already sent extra troops to the province and thousands more, along with aircraft and warships, are being readied.
Harsanto warned that the outcome of Saturday's talks will determine the future of the December 9 cessation of hostilities agreement (COHA) and whether the government will launch a military operation in Aceh.
"We'll look at the outcome of the meeting," he said. "If the meeting degenerates into chaos there is a big possibility Indonesia will pull out of the COHA." The government had previously set Monday of this week as its deadline for the rebels to solve the Aceh problem peacefully.
President Megawati Sukarnoputri is scheduled to meet parliament leaders Thursday afternoon to get their support for a possible military operation.
Tiba said GAM leaders in Stockholm had asked him and other rebel negotiators in the province to prepare to attend the Tokyo meeting. "GAM is ready to go to the Joint Council meeting because we never refused [before] to attend," said Tiba, a GAM negotiator who leads the rebels' team on the Joint Security Committee which monitors the shaky truce.
Harsanto said GAM must agree to the government's existing conditions that the rebels accept the existing special autonomy status for Aceh, and begin laying down their arms.
The Joint Council is the final arbiter of disputes over the peace pact. It groups government and rebel leaders with mediators from the Swiss-based Henry Dunant Centre (HDC).
HDC mediated the truce in Aceh, which had all but collapsed before the latest breakthrough. Foreign ceasefire monitors left the country this week. HDC could not be immediately reached for comment.
The EU, US, Japan and the World Bank, in a joint statement early Thursday, expressed "deep concern at the imminent breakdown of the peace process in Aceh." They praised the government's "continuing commitment" to dialogue and called on both sides to prepare to meet in Tokyo as soon as possible.
"We strongly hope that the two sides at that meeting reach a consensus to revive COHA and return Aceh to a state of peace based on special autonomy," they said.
The four hosted a conference in Tokyo last December on aid for Aceh. "The co-chairs remain willing to continue to support the COHA and to provide assistance for the future reconstruction of Aceh if peace prevails," they said. An estimated 10,000 people have died in the northern Sumatra province since GAM began its armed struggle for independence in 1976.